Mr Findlay said: "Isn't it the truth Father, particularly after you discovered the nature of the relationship, a sexual relationship, between Martin MacAskill and Angelika you were consumed by jealousy?"

"I certainly wasn't angry and I wasn't jealous," Father Nugent said.

Mr Findlay said the priest became cold and hardly spoke to Ms Kluk after this.

"You were angry with her, rage fuelled by jealousy and no doubt fortified from time to time by drink," he said.

Father Nugent denied this. He admitted telling Rebecca Dordi, a student from St Petersburgh, about the condom but denied it was a betrayal of trust.

Jurors saw photos of a hatch in the church floor, near the confessional, which led to Ms Kluk's body on 29 September.

Conceal information

Father Nugent said he did not know it was there.

The trial heard Sarah Howie, who he had a sexual relationship with, had told police of a search of St Patrick's for secret passages, after which she had told Father Nugent of the hatch.

Earlier, Father Nugent admitted telling Rebecca Dordi - described as a devout woman with links to St Patrick's - to conceal information from the police.

The murder charge alleges that Mr Tobin attacked Angelika between 24 September and 29 September in St Patrick's Church, raped her, battered her and repeatedly struck her with a knife.

It is alleged that he then hid the body under the floor of the church in an attempt to defeat the ends of justice.

In a special defence read to the jury, Tobin admits having sex with the Polish student, with her consent.